The Influencers: Alison Adams

Inspiring progress

Kia ora Ōtautahi! This is my debut column for Metropol as the new chief executive for ChristchurchNZ, the city’s economic development agency.

One of the first official duties I had the privilege of performing was welcoming all eight of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 teams just before they played their warm-up games here.

Some of those teams return to Christchurch next week for pool matches and then we have the honour of hosting a semi-final followed by the final on
3 April.

We are blessed with a jewel of a venue with world-class facilities here in Hagley Oval, and this will be seen by a global broadcast audience that is seven times larger than the men’s Rugby World Cup.

To host the final is a huge coup for the city and for ChristchurchNZ, which is the host city agency. We bid to host global events such as WCWC 2022 because they are a great way to plant the seed of awareness about New Zealand’s most modern and most exciting city.

Some of those viewers will be inspired to visit, to attend a conference, or to study here.

In the global race to attract visitors, workers, and investment to cities around the world, Christchurch’s first step may be a young woman’s bold advance down the wicket to hoist a six over Hadlee Pavilion.